Greenwich-based women’s fashion designer Olivine Gabbro will move into fellow Greenwich Avenue store Richards under a new partnership announced this week.

The niece and aunt team of Grace Kang, Olivine Gabbro designer, and Sue Neumann, company president, began their brand in Greenwich with the intention of taking it international. The agreement with Richards, another locally formed brand since bought by family-owned luxury clothing store Mitchells, is a step toward accomplishing that goal, Neumann said.

Under the partnership, Olivine Gabbro will close its Greenwich Avenue store and move its line into Richards down the street with plans for other Mitchells stores to pick up the brand.

One or two representatives from Olivine Gabbro will remain on Greenwich Avenue in Richards to help customers, who will still have opportunities to make appointments with Kang, she said. The arrangement will give Kang and her staff the time to focus on the brand instead of running a store.

“The timing has been incredible,” Kang said. “We’re a very small staff and can’t focus on growing a global brand and running a store at the same time.”

Maintaining the customer service and high-quality bespoke, made-to-measure clothing is a top priority for Kang, so Richards is a natural fit, she said.

Kang and Neumann began Olivine Gabbro in their Greenwich basement before opening a store downtown on East Elm Street. In 2014, they made the leap to Greenwich Avenue, where they hoped to become an anchor on the popular commercial corridor, Neumann said in a 2014 interview, adding they wanted to be there for “generations and generations like Richards.”

They have steadily increased their prominence. Last fall, Kang joined the industry’s elite ranks with a New York Fashion Week show, which she hoped would put Olivine Gabbro in front of an international audience.

The show was a success, and working with Mitchells to carry the Olivine Gabbro brand in stores nationwide fits into Kang and Neumann’s planned growth, they said. It helps that Richards is also a family-owned business with local roots, Neumann emphasized.

“Our vision from the beginning was to connect with our community,” she said. “Our philosophy aligns with Mitchells, and this introduces us to a bigger venue. We live here, our kids grew up here and we’re friends with our clients. We want them to know we’re not abandoning our community.”

The partnership arose organically and “so spontaneously,” Kang said. Last year, she mentioned that her brand was looking for a new home while showing Richards a new collection, and the discussions took off from there, she said.

“We are always searching for new ways to excite our imaginative and forward-thinking clients,” Bob Mitchell, Co-CEO of Mitchell Stores, said in an email. “The bespoke service that Grace has incorporated into her elegant collection speaks directly to our ladies. The relationship just makes sense.”

Neumann hopes their story will prompt other women and especially female family members to start local businesses. Few big fashion companies begin locally, she said, but Olivine Gabbro is paving a different route to success and takes great pride in Greenwich. “People (in Greenwich) can relate to our story, because they’ve been a part of it,” she said.

Kang has big dreams for the brand’s growth, but her original clientele will remain a priority, she said. “I’m not giving up Olivine Gabbro to Richards — they can support our growth.”